How to Declutter Your Clothes Effectively

Do you declutter your clothes? Anth and I were decluttering his clothes the other day. He really surprised me – it took less than an hour, and he got rid of about a third of his clothes.

The way he went about it was so decisive. It was just keep or donate, no maybe. To be fair, he doesn’t care much about his clothes, but I thought there’s a lesson there for us.

Back to decluttering your clothes, I’m sure you’ve read about the process before. But my method is a little bit different.

Here we go!

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1. Pile your clothes in rough categories.

Whichever is applicable:

• Outerwear: light jacket, heavy jackets.
• Tops: sleeveless, short sleeves, long sleeves
• Bottoms: Pants, jeans, shorts, skirts etc.
• Dresses
• Clothes you wear at home
• Other categories relevant to you, but don’t have too many or you’ll confuse yourself.

Piling them in categories allows you to see how many clothes you have in each category. This helps you to reduce your clothes proportionally.

2. Put on your favorite outfit

Put on the outfit that makes you feel confident and good, and remember that feeling. Look in the mirror and observe why you like it. Is it the way it fits your shoulders and tapers nicely toward your waist? Is it very much your style?

Remember this outfit when you feel undecided about a piece.

Change into whatever you were wearing, then proceed to the next step.

3. Go through each category

Go through each category of clothes and separate them into:

• Keep (Rough categories)
• Maybe (1 Pile)
• Donate: Make sure you place these directly into a bag, preferably black and opaque so you don’t get tempted to look at them again :p
• Recycle or trash (for damaged items):
  Consider if you can turn them into rags to clean with. The road to a neat wardrobe should not be paved with trash.

4. Look at your “Keep” pile

Look at your “keep” clothes, consider if you have a comfortable number of clothes in each category depending on what you normally wear.

Try them on and really get creative with them.
(You don’t have to try the home clothes.)

Sometimes, we get so used to one way of dressing we forget that there are different ways to match our clothes. Trying them on helps you to see how your clothes can come together, especially now that you’re freshly decluttered. It also assures you that you still have many different outfits to wear.

If you come across a piece that didn’t look as good as you thought it’d be, or doesn’t go with anything in the “keep” pile, donate it.

If you feel that you have enough clothes in this “keep” pile, box your “maybe” pile up and look through it a month later. You can even consider donating the “maybe” pile, but I know getting rid of a lot at once can be scary and even painful.

5. Look at your “Maybe” pile, maybe

If you feel like you don’t have enough clothes in the “keep” pile, or a category is lacking in numbers, look into the “maybe” pile and pick out what you need.

When you’re done, box the rest of “maybe” up and look through it a month later. Or consider donating them.

Notice how by now, you’ll be really tired from all the changing and decision-making. That’s good. That’s how you know you have plenty of clothes to keep you warm and looking good. Take a moment to feel thankful.

6. Tidy up

With gratitude in mind, hang your “keep” clothes up, or fold and keep them in your closet. And you’re done!

Until it’s time to look at the “maybe” pile, that is.

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7. The “maybe” pile

The reason I’m “ruthless” with the maybe pile is that most of us have more than what we need in the “keep” pile anyway.

Boxing up the “maybe” pile and waiting for a month gives you a chance to test out your new and lightened keeper wardrobe, and see how you feel with lesser clothes.

Maybe you’ll realize you don’t even need to look at the “maybe” clothes anymore! In that case, just donate them.

If you don’t want to wait, you can always look through them on the same day. Otherwise, open the “maybe” box a month or two later, and you’ll be able to evaluate them better.

When it’s time, go through the clothes and put them on if you’re not sure how you feel about it. Compare them with your benchmark outfit. Then keep or donate each piece.

In the meantime, if you find yourself desperately in need of something in the “maybe” box, you can always take it out of there.

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Are you decluttering your clothes anytime soon? I hope you’ll find my method of wardrobe-decluttering useful. Also, here are some tips for building a capsule wardrobe. Be sure to check that out!

Let me know what you think!